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Monday, June 08, 2009

While everybody was growing up going nutty over Super Mario, Mario Kart, Metroid and Zelda: Ocarina of Time on their Super Famicoms (I guess I should say SNES since I'm in the US now!), I was spending all my hard earned allowance/chore money on my Sega Mega Drive (Genesis, I mean!) and absolutely loving Golden Axe, Eswat, Sonic and of course, Bare Knuckle (cough, Streets of Rage, cough).

I love beat 'em ups and Bare Knuckle and all it's three iterations will always hold a special place in my childhood.

I mean how could you go wrong? No boring exploration, collecting coins or talking to villagers. Just me fighting crime with my two fists and eating random pieces of meat hidden in barrels!

Everytime I hear Axel's grainy "Gran Uppa!" battle cry going over Yuzo Koshiro's thumping music, it brings a geeky tear to my eye. What can I say, I really love these games!

Drawing these guys was so much fun! As I was working on these, I would remember playing the games over and over during those summers in Hong Kong; beating up on Mr. X and his army of punks.

Adam (the dude above) never really made it back as a playable character after the first game, so it was cool to give him a slight update but still stay true to what he looked like.
Can't really go wrong with jeans and a shirt, so I didn't mess with Axel's get up too much. Gran Uppa!!
I remember having a crush on Blaze, back then. But man, put some clothes on girl! Kikousho!

And of course, I gotta draw one of the punks they beat up on, right? Complete with 'droppable' pipe and knife that you can use to beat up his other homies with! I hated those knife guys!

These were such a joy to draw, they totally transported me back to those worry-free days. Well! Enough nostalgia for now, the neverending battle continues! Gran Uppa!